(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cable staplers, and more particularly to a cable holding assembly for cable staplers.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
When laying out power cables, telephone cables, network cables, or similar flexible cables, a certain kind of cable retainers are usually employed to fix the cables along their paths. The cable retainer usually contains a body having a cable groove at the bottom and a built-in nail for securing the body to the wall or floor, confining the cable inside the groove of the body. To increase the efficiency of cabling, there are also specialized cable staplers that directly punch specially configured staples to fix the cables to the wall or floor. Such a stapler usually has an inverted U-shaped cable holding piece in front of the muzzle to hold down the cable before firing a staple to fasten the cable.
However, cables have different gauges. For example, telephone or network cables have smaller gauges than those of the power cables. The cables also have different cross-sectional shapes such as circular or oval shapes. The cable holding piece of a cable stapler therefore cannot function as expected if its U-shaped notch does not match the gauge and cross-sectional shape of the cable being fixed. If the cable is too thin or too thick, the cable holding piece cannot hold the cable steadily and reliably.
Therefore, usually multiple cable staplers have to be prepared for operation on cables of various gauges. This not only adds to the cost of ownership but also reduces the cabling efficiency as multiple cable staplers have to be carried and swapped during the work.